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Thursday, December 29, 2011
Answering the Questions.
 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. - Romans 3:28
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. - James 2:24
The above two sentences are taken from the Bible, the Holy Scriptures of Christianity.
They were written at roughly the same time, by individuals who held similar positions in the early church, and they were written
to the roughly equivalent audiences of ancient Christians. If we are to believe mainstream Christian dogma, they also just
so happen to be divinely-inspired thoughts from the one, true God of the universe.
So if all of that is true, why
does it seem like they teach opposite truths?
Paul's letter to the Romans appears, at face value, to teach that
being right with God (i.e. 'justification') comes via our faith and NOT the things we do - even adherence to God's explicit
instructions. And James' letter from Jerusalem, at face value, seems to teach the opposite: that being right with God comes
from both what we believe AND what we do about those beliefs. What's a person in the church to do when faced with such a conundrum?
If you're like most Christians, you'll simply ask people like me. We are, after all, the 'clergy' of the church, and
as educated theologians, we are all armed to the teeth with explanations that answer any and every theological question in
a neat, tidy way so that no one - questioning church-goer or atheist antagonist alike - can rightfully say the bible contradicts
itself. Maybe they're talking about different 'works,' or a different 'law,' or, perhaps, their definition of 'faith'
is different. But regardless, ask any Reverend or Father or preacher worth his or her salt, and you'll come away with a nice,
easy answer that places these two passages in a nice, tidy theological box. Having all the answers makes us all sleep better
at night, after all.
But what if it's not as easy as all that? What if, instead of trying to find the 'right' Christian
theological system, God never intended for us to try to harmonize every bible verse? What if, instead of seeing theology as
a box to cram every idea into, God is perfectly comfortable with the tension of competing ideas?
Sound crazy? A
little.
But it's no crazier than a teenage virgin giving birth to a Holy Spirit-conceived Son of God.
It's no crazier than a man who walked on water, turned water into wine, and brought the dead back to life teaching
that in order to follow Him and be a part of God's kingdom, we will all need to 'pick up our crosses' and 'die' to ourselves.
And it's certainly not crazier than that man dying on a cross as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind and then, three
days later, getting up and living again.
As much as we try to rationalize every difficulty in God's word, it seems
that there is an awful lot in there that seems impossible that we simply take at face value. And we do so for a whole host
of reasons that don't include fitting every theological idea into a box.
When it comes to the tension between so-called
'faith alone' and 'faith plus works,' I can give you all sorts of ways to make them fit together. But maybe God put these
different notions in His word on purpose. Maybe a church that believes in Jesus but needs a reminder to care for the orphans and widows outside of their windows would need to hear that God wants their faith to impact their actions. And maybe a church that knows
that trusting God means trusting Jesus' words, but is haunted by the specters of their Jewish neighbors who attempt to earn God's favor via the Mosaic Law need to be reminded that there's nothing we can do to make God love us any more than He already does.
Maybe,
just maybe, God understands that people are different and need to be treated in different ways at different times.
Or maybe not. I don't know. All I do know is that there's one thing that a Christian - ANY Christian - can hang their hats
on: the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
And when we do that, the theological boxes seem a whole
lot less important.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
God's Love.
 God loves you.
Those three words have been uttered so many times by so many people that
it's become, for many, a meaningless cliche. And it's come, so often, with so many strings attached that it's become, if not
a bald-face lie, then something that evokes feelings that are anything but warm and fuzzy. But when we're faced with just
how scandalous God's universal, unfailing love really is, we're forced to deal with emotions much more complex than those
that lies and cliches bring out in us.
The truth is, the New Testament teaches us one overarching, dominant concept about God: that not only does He love each and every person that has ever walked the face of this planet, but He loves them enough to
send Jesus Christ, His Son, to die so that each of them have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him. In other words, God
loves absolutely everyone.
And everyone, logically speaking, includes Michael Plumadore.
If you clicked that link and the read the article, your first thought probably wasn't concerning love, be it
God's or anyone else's. According to reports, last week in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Michael Plumadore was babysitting a family
friend, a nine year old girl. For reasons that aren't entirely clear, he decided to beat the girl to death, cut her body up
with a hacksaw, and decided to keep her head, hands and feet in his home. He threw away the rest of the remains at a local
business, and kept his trophies in Ziplock bags in his freezer.
Now, I've seen more horror movies than I can count.
I own nearly the entire Saw series, I've been watching Stephen King's stories since I was the tragically dead girl's
age, and have become so numb to most of the world's atrocities that most of what we see on the news barely makes me flinch.
And yet, when I read this story, I could immediately think of nothing else than how much worse this true event is than what
Hollywood writers ever come up with, and how it's infinitely worse than the vast majority of what we see on the evening news.
And, apparently, I'm not alone. Taking a quick perusal of the reader comments reveals a predictable consensus
of opinion:
- Put a 25 cent
bullet in this guy head and be done with it, no court, no attorneys, no prison, done!!!!
- OK, so... I'm a Liberal from Liberalville but I say kill this
guy. He's useless on this planet. Kill him.
- This sick F needs to be extinguished immediately.
- No reason for this mutt to keep living. Kill him.
- torture this piece of crap, cut him up piece by piece while he is still alive and dispose of the crap in the garbage.
- I don't usually comment
on these forums but they need to cut this piece of craps head off, stick it on a pole and stand it up in town square.
Without fail, each person who decided to comment on this article felt a sense of outrage, demanded justice, and thought
of creative ways to enact it. And yet, if we're to believe the gospel, that's not how God feels about Michael Plumadore. As
horrific as his actions have been, God made Him; Jesus died for Him; the Holy Spirit wants to live inside of Him. This man
has dignity, value and worth; He is loved by the Creator of this, and every universe.
That is an absolutely mind-blowing
fact, and it should give us pause before we condemn and attack those around us whose lifestyles don't align with our sense
of morality and ethics, not to mention before we look in the mirror and see ourselves and useless and unworthy as well.
When tragedies in our world happen, there's a God of love who weeps right alongside of us, mourning and grieving for
every person who suffers. But that goes for everyone - not just the ones we deem worthy. No matter who you are, God loves
you.
Even if you're Michael Plumadore.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Lessons from a Vacation to Disneyworld (Part One)
 There are lots of conceivable reasons that someone might visit Disneyworld. Perhaps a couple in
honeymooning or a family is vacationing; maybe someone lives near Orlando, Florida and has a season pass to the happiest place
on earth; or, it might just be that like Stephanie and I, two people in love are celebrating their anniversary with Mickey,
Minnie and the rest of Walt Disney's creations. But no matter why someone might go to Disneyworld, one thing is for sure:
there's only one reason that makes me want to physically assault tween girls in the face with my foot:
Justin Bieber.
We had spent two of the most perfect, relaxing days at the Epcot Center and Animal Kingdom, and we couldn't have been
happier. The vacation felt like it had just begun, and yet, it was already the best that we had ever had. The third day of
our vacation had the makings of the best day yet, as we were going to Disney's signature park, the Magic Kingdom, and while
we were there, we had reservations to eat with the Disney princesses in Cinderella's castle (note: there are few words to
describe how awkward in-character Disney princesses can make a 27 year old guy with no kids. But that's a subject for another
blog...). All in all, it would be hard to wipe the smile from our faces.
But then came the news that would stop
us - and everyone else in the Disney parks - in our tracks: Justin Bieber was at Disneyworld. Apparently, without giving any
park goers or even employees any heads-up, Disney had chosen this particular day to film its Christmas Special, with a special
guest that would make every girl between the ages of 9 and 15 swoon. And as the cherry on top of the crap sundae that
was this news, there was this: the Bieb had told his fans precisely where to find him on this particular Saturday.
To say that the Magic Kingdom was unseasonably busy would be an understatement; everywhere you turned, you were swarmed
by an army of giggling schoolgirls wearing shirts with this face on it, all of them so excited you would think he arose from the fires of their passion as a golden calf to worship. And for
the December crowd that had specificallly come to Disneyworld at a non-peak season, this was less than exciting news. I believe
that a man in the crowd behind me said it best when, in his thick Northeaster accent, he succinctly said, 'It's just not right.
We didn't come to Disney to see Justin Biebah.'
The whole ordeal got me thinking: who is it that people come to
church to see? What is it that motivates people to get out of bed on a Sunday morning, get in their cars, and leave their
houses on, potentially, the only day a week they don't have to?
The answer is obvious: Jesus. His life, death,
and resurrection; His teachings of grace, love, commitment and sacrifice; His ministry of unconditional compassion to the
poor, lost and downtrodden people of society. It's Jesus that should be our focus, and Jesus that we should be advertising
to the world. And it's Jesus that people should be filling our pews for.
Unfortunately, there are many in today's
modern church that come with an ulterior motive, and there are far too many pastors and teachers who are all too happy to
oblige them with legalistic rules, political agenda, prosperity gospels and fancy shows that turn worship into American Idol.
In other words, there are far too many people who are going to Disneyworld just to see Justin Bieber.
With all
this outside pressure and temptation to cash in on what the masses demand, keeping the focus on Jesus, and Jesus alone is
one of the most surprisingly difficult things to accomplish for any minister. And Jesus' message of the most difficult
things any Christian can attempt to keep as the core focus of their lives. But at the end of the day, there's
nothing that will last longer or mean more than Jesus, and there's no one else who's worth placing our trust, hope and faith
in than Him. Week in and week out, there's no one else you should go to church to see.
Not even someone as idolized
as the Bieb.
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